It’s hard to imagine many athletes will leave the Olympics as disappointed as Great Britain’s Adam Gemili.
After he finished his run in the 200 meters, he knew that winning a medal was going to be a close call either way. He had no idea how close until the scoreboard showed that he ran the exact same time as France’s Christophe Lemaitre. The final verdict, however, was that Lemaitre had won the bronze by three thousands of a second.
“I gave it my all,” Gemili said. “I literally gave everything I could out there and it wasn’t enough. It’s hard to take.”
Gemili, who primarily played soccer until switching full-time to track in 2012, admitted that it would be difficult for him to get over missing the podium by such a small margin. During the race and even on replay, he felt he was in the right position — he ran a better race than in the semifinals, he said — but just got out-finished by a hair.
He sank to the ground after the finish line waiting for the result, only to be “heartbroken” when Lemaitre’s name showed up.
“It’s going to take me a little while to get it out and make sure I’m on it for the relay tomorrow and channel it into this winter’s training for London (World Championships) next year, which is going to be great.”
“I thought it was close. I knew I was in the mix there. I saw his name third and I gave it so much and I know I can run faster than that. Today wasn’t about the times it was about medaling. I went out there and I was fearless and had great self-belief, and wasn’t there just to be a spectator. I wanted to go out there and show (Great Britain) can challenge the best in the world.”